Flash, hybrid RealStor added to Seagate storage arrays

Seagate's storage array line expanded this week with a set of all-flash and hybrid RealStor models.

The RealStor 5 Series is based on storage systems that Seagate acquired in recent years. The 2U arrays use the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and software stack picked up from Dot Hill Systems converged with Xyratex enclosure technology.

The latest models include the hybrid RealStor 4005 and all-flash RealStor 5005. The hybrid RealStor variants are available in 12-drive and 24-drive enclosures. Raw storage scales from 10 TB to 120 TB of raw storage per chassis. Customers can also order it only with hard disk drives.

Seagate RealStor 5005 all-flash scales from 10 TB to 77 TB of raw capacity. Customers can order RealStor 5 arrays to support the Fibre Channel, iSCSI or SAS interface.

The new Seagate storage array line is marketed to original equipment makers that customize branded storage systems for industry verticals. Seagate does not sell storage directly to enterprise users.

"We expect our partners will be selling these systems in the sub-$50,000 price range, which is revolutionary with that kind of performance level," said Raj Das, a Seagate senior director of product line management.

Hybrid RealStor storage is rated to deliver 250,000 IOPS for video surveillance and related workloads that need acceleration and secondary tiering.

The all-flash RealStor 5005 is a performance-optimized model rated for 400,000 IOPS and latency of one millisecond. Typical use cases include NoSQL database consolidation and big data analytics.

Controllers, disks, fans and power supplies are hot-swappable. Seagate supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 50. Advanced features include asynchronous replication, clones, snapshots and thin provisioning.

The new Seagate storage array products will appeal to companies that previously thought all-flash was out of reach, said Eric Burgener, a storage research director at analyst firm IDC.

"The thing that strikes me is that this is an all-flash array starting at $50,000 that can deliver 400,000 IOPS and 20 TB of raw storage capacity right out of the chute, with capacity expansion if you buy additional SSDs," he said. "I think this will start to make a difference for small and medium business and other midmarket customers that, in the past, felt they could not afford an all-flash array."

RealStor is one of three Seagate storage systems. The vendor also sells Kinetic object data and ClusterStor file storage for high-performance computing.